136. Campakapupphiya (THA-AP138)

I saw Buddha, the Morning Star,
shining like a dinner-plate tree,
sitting down within a mountain,
surveying all the directions.

There were three young brahmin men then,
well-trained in their own brahmin arts.
Taking ascetics’ provisions,
they were coming up behind me.

In a bag were seven flowers
those ascetics had laid down there.
Having picked them up I gave them
for the knowledge of Vessabhu.

In the thirty-one aeons since
I offered those flowers to it,
I’ve come to know no bad rebirth:
that’s the fruit of knowledge-pūjā.

In the twenty-ninth aeon hence,
a king known as Vihatābha,
was a wheel-turner with great strength,
possessor of the seven gems.

The four analytical modes,
and these eight deliverances,
six special knowledges mastered,
I have done what the Buddha taught!

Thus indeed Venerable Campakapupphiya Thera spoke these verses.

The legend of Campakapupphiya Thera is finished.

Translated by Jonathan S. Walters.

Whitman College, 2017

Legends of the Buddhist Saints (Apadāna) is released under the Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share Alike license.

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